The Peak of Mt. Stupid

We’ve arrived at a moment where everyone’s an expert on everything. Epidemiology, international law, airplane safety, constitutional precedent, you name it. All you need is a web browser, a following, and enough chutzpah to voice your opinion.. But knowing a little, and believing you know it all, has always been a recipe for disaster.

Consider this

In Greek mythology, Phaethon was the mortal son of Apollo, god of the sun.

Desperate to prove himself, Phaethon begged his father to let him drive the chariot of the sun across the sky. Apollo at first refused. The horses were wild, and the drive was a treacherous one. Even the gods feared to drive the chariot. But Phaeton was tenacious, and finally, Apollo relented. 

Almost instantly, Phaeton lost control. The chariot veered off course, scorching the heavens, burning the earth, and freezing the seas. To save the world, Zeus struck him down with a thunderbolt, causing him to fall to his death. 

Putting it into play

Phaeton wasn’t undone by his ambition alone, but by his inexperience. He stands as a cautionary figure at the peak of “Mount Stupid,” that treacherous point on the Dunning-Kruger curve where low competence meets high confidence. Power without wisdom and skill, and without temperance, is a dangerous combination. 

The tragedy is that many are handed power without the grounding needed to use it well:

•  Leaders elevated for charisma, not competence.
•  Founders who mistake vision for capability. 
•  Politicians entrusted with vast resources, yet held to no standard of knowledge or expertise.

The higher the stakes, the more damage we can cause. Power needs grounding in knowledge.  Because, as the Dunning-Kruger curve shows, the more you know, the more you know what you don’t know. And that’s humbling.